Moderation Guidelines && Applications for Moderators

[3dprinter]

It's ok for me for the French section.

... and I notice that your name is up in lights as moderator. There you go, free work (you dont have to pay to do it  ) - enjoy. Shame I dont know French, to see how bad/good/fun/frustrating it is.

[mowcius]

So - is this all staying secret and all they were actually asking for is moderators for the international language forums?

[3dprinter]

That theory seems to match the two datapoints we have. I know nothing more than the observations made.

[smeezekitty]

Do not belittle members, do not air personal discussions to the public, etc. If you have a problem with a member, PM them or e-mail them and try to keep it at that level.

I have seen moderators in other forums that constantly belittle members. Atleast there is a policy against it here.

[3dprinter]

That theory seems to match the two datapoints we have. I know nothing more than the observations made.

A few days (weeks?) ago I noticed the Español section got it's moderator. 3 data points, theory still holds

[Yot]

Seeing some users marked as moderators, congratulations with your new job.

I do hope the arduino team realizes that with this little communication there is enough room for speculation and imagination. That's maybe why there were some negative sounds about this. We have seen that in the past as well. No/very little info about the forum migration made room for negative vibes. Holding back 1 or 2 negative replies on a blog post 'awaiting acceptance' for a couple of days while the positive replies got posted didn't help either in my case.

Nice saying from a few post back:

Stop hogging all the problems. Share the wealth!

regards,
Jeroen.

[mbanzi]

Hello All

We have slowly started activating moderators for all the boards.
I have done it quietly because I wanted to observe how people do their job before activating more moderators.

This morning I promoted two more members that are now global moderators.

In your opinion how much communication is needed about this?

I didn't have in mind any "Knighting Ceremony" for the moderators, should we have one?

m

[Yot]

Enough so there is very little room for interpretation. Those interpretations are usually on the negative side as we have already seen.

Jeroen.

[mowcius]

This morning I promoted two more members that are now global moderators.

Which members and for what reasons?

I presume from looking it was Coding Badly and AWOL but this is what is getting people annoyed - lack of communication.
The Arduino team to an outsider such as myself seems very secretive and does not seem to want to accept help from others for fear that it may extend out of the tight group of developers into a more community developed project.
That view may be wrong but I think that's what many people who hang around here see. Don't get me wrong either, we have seen some great things from the Arduino project and the universal acceptance and knowledge of the platform is rather impressive but it would be nice if we knew more and people had the opportunity to help more.

I know we have our opposing views (and likely for that reason I will never be made a moderator on this forum - which in part I am glad as with a new job and many other changes I don't think I'd have the time) but my views are not alone, I'm just one to voice my feelings.

[AWOL]

I'm an outsider too.
I have no contact with the founding team other than via email, and I consciously didn't apply for the position, even when they opened up applications a few months back.
I had no warning either - I just woke up with some new blue stars and an email from Massimo.

I can only assume they wanted a touch of "poacher-turned-gamekeeper".
Or possibly, like Zaphod Beeblebrox, anyone who actively wants the position on no account should be allowed to hold it!

(I promise not to use my new super-powers for evil)

[Yot]

I have no contact with the founding team other than via email, and I conciously didn't apply for the position, even when they opened up applications a few months back. I had no warning either - I just woke up with some new blue stars and an email from Massimo.

Now, what about 'room for interpretation' in that. Remember that when people don't know the reasoning they will probably make something up or start guessing. So do it your, the arduino team, way and don't rely on the community or make use of the community which needs communicating before deciding. If you want both there will be guesses/interpretations/'bad climate'.

I try to explain this in a general way as i don't mean to start some fight over details.

Jeroen.

[mbanzi]

The Arduino team collaborates with a lot of people and we accept contributions from everybody.
In any open source project there is a "benevolent dictator" that has to make decisions in the end following the original spirit of that made the project successful in the first place. (you can find that concept in a lot of writings about Open Source)

Having said this we're not many people and we can't cover all areas as quickly as some of you would like.

The criteria is very simple, I'm looking at the ones who have reported the most posts while considering the amount and quality of their contributions. I've started from the "non-english" forums and now I'm working on the international forums.

There is still a lot of work to do.

m

[Yot]

Having said this we're not many people and we can't cover all areas as quickly as some of you would like.

I'm not questioning that, at all. I am a bit disturbed by the fact you seem to think we only want to receive.

Maybe there is a misunderstanding, the community could lighten your work load. Collaborating doesn't have to mean that you get yet another task that eats time. Though that will mean you have to share some reason about why you decided on things. Maybe the arduino team doesn't want to let go of some of that power. (you see, some of the interpreting/guessing there.)

Maybe you/we need to appoint one or several spokespersons. That way the team can have a single point to throw info to without taking much time in clarifying/discussions.

Jeroen.

[3dprinter]

I didn't have in mind any "Knighting Ceremony" for the moderators, should we have one?

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,66350.msg486652.html  ?

[mowcius]

The criteria is very simple, I'm looking at the ones who have reported the most posts while considering the amount and quality of their contributions.

UweFederer?
I presume a personal friend...